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Answering the Climate Call
Posted by johnsoncontrols on July 26, 2009 11:55 PM
By Michael T. Loth, Johnson Controls
Like a cell phone that gets a little louder with each successive ring, the climate message to businesses worldwide gets a little more urgent every day: “Pick up the phone; it might be important!” Lately, the calls have come from the global investment community.
In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) divulged recently that it is considering requiring publically-owned companies to let their stockholders know just how much risk they could face as a result of their greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Wire says the SEC is meeting privately with groups representing investors’ interests in an effort to figure out just how much companies should have to disclose – if, in fact, the SEC ultimately decides to impose new requirements.
On the global front, a new report from the United Nations concludes that financial advisors and asset managers for institutional investors could find themselves getting sued for negligence if they don’t advise their clients about any environmental and social concerns related to the companies they tout.
Coming on top of the cap-and-trade scheme contained in climate legislation currently before the U.S. Congress – and coupled with growing public concern – the voice mail to companies is pretty clear: if you’re not already measuring your carbon emissions, you’re probably going to be required to do so in the not very distant future.
Fortunately, many organizations have already picked up the phone. A new study by GTM Research finds that roughly 3,000 organizations worldwide are calculating their carbon emissions. Many of them are using what is called “Enterprise Carbon Accounting” software to accomplish the task, and the report finds that Johnson Controls is one of the global leaders in the category.
The reason is our recently-released and enhanced Energy and Emissions Management System. This remarkable software helps global organizations develop a clearer picture of energy trends and their greenhouse gas emission. It gives them the ability to measure, manage and forecast energy costs, energy usage, energy efficiency initiatives, fleet emissions and energy waste.
A greenhouse gas inventory module automates carbon accounting by consolidating all sources of emissions, baseline adjustments and any impacts of carbon trading. The result is a comprehensive, transparent and verifiable inventory of an organization’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The web-based system is user friendly and truly global – supporting international data entry and generating reports in four languages, using numerous currencies and units of measure.
Best of all, it already has a great track record, currently:
- Managing $1 billion in annual energy spending
- Monitoring 63 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from 5,000 buildings in 88 countries
- Capturing more than 8,000 energy and cost saving initiatives in the last eight years – nearly half for global giants such as Pfizer, Wyeth, Dell and Xerox
Simply put, this system incorporates one of the most advanced management software programs on the market to help organizations answer the ever-increasing calls to meet emerging greenhouse gas emission reporting standards.
Efficiency Now… It’s never been more important!
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